Day: March 15, 2010

Listening to the radio the other day and the DJ was encouraging his listeners to visit the station’s web site. “It is so safe” he said “that you don’t have to hit the ‘clear history’ button when you are done”.

Why is there a “clear history” button on your computer? Why is it possible for people to delete any reference to the web sites that they have been visiting? Is it there because the developers of such things know that people, mostly men, are going to be visiting web sites that they would be embarrassed to have other people, one thinks of wives, children, bosses, find out what sites they have been in? A single click and you can erase all reference to the fact that you were where you were when you were on line and the boss thought you were working, your wife thought you were reading the news, or Carson, or your children thought you were into that game.

I know nothing about computers, but it is my guess that someone with the knowledge and skill could go into a computer and find out what the deleted sites were. Somewhere, in the bowels of the computer, there is reference to the deleted files that are immune to the “clear history” command. And then there’s Google, and You Tube and your internet provider. You know they keep track – no matter how much deleting you do – even if you set your computer afire and get a new one.

Does the thought that your surfing history can be found out send chills up your spine? And what if that were true in other areas of life? What if someone from your past were to show up at your door and threaten to talk to your wife about your university days? We see this all the time in the political arena. Just ask Adam Giambrone (a reference for the Toronto news savvy).

The application of all this is blatantly obvious. There is no delete history button in our lives. We simply cannot erase the sins of our past or our present. They hang over us like a cloud that is constantly raining down on us. Live sinlessly perfect from this day until you die and you still cannot deal with all the ones committed up to today. There simply is no delete option.

And yet there is.

The cross.

The cross deletes all reference and all history and all consequences. It is the grand cleaner of junk. Others may make reference to them, but God never will. Call in the computer expert of life – God Himself, to search for evidence against you and all He will see is a pristine heart, because all He hears is “I have done a cleaning”, from his Son.

The cross makes it as if those deeds were never committed. It is a marvelous work. In the computer analogy again, it is the perfect program for ridding your files of all the junk. Not even Google will find it. And that is what you need.

God’s standard is absolute perfection. He will simply not tolerate any sin whatsoever. And only Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God who lived a sinless life and died a substitutionary death, taking the consequences for you that you should have taken, can completely delete the sin. Nothing and no one can even remove one. It is all or nothing with Him. You can have all your sin removed by Him or have all else and everyone else and everything else that you try, completely fail to remove even one. Jesus does a perfect complete job. Don’t be a fool.

Now, back to delete history. There is help for you if the only solution you have found so far for hiding your computer sins is the delete history button. It starts with faith in Jesus Christ.

But it would be foolish to assume that there are no Christians who are not troubled and haunted by their internet activities. Use what God has given you. He has given you the Word. He has given you prayer.

And I can hear it now. “The Word and prayer?!!? Do you have any idea how much Bible reading and prayer I have done only to sink right back into the same old habit again?” Yes, I do. But that is not all that God provides.

He also provides the fellowship of the saints. And if you are really serious about kicking the habit of computer sin then you must find one or more Christian confidants with whom you can confess and from whom you can find prayer and help and time. Hebrews 3:12-13 is important here:

Hebrews 3:12-13 – Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. [13] But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

James 5:16 is necessary as well:

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

You think that prayer and Bible reading are not enough. You are right. God didn’t design them to be. You need those things but you also need everything else He has provided for you. You need the church, the fellowship of the saints, loving care from others. Consider these verse regarding that:

Psalm 55:14 – We used to take sweet counsel together;

within God’s house we walked in the throng.

Luke 22:32 – but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

John 17:20-21 – “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, [21] that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

Romans 1:12 – that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.

Romans 12:15 – Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

Galatians 6:2 – Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Ephes. 4:15-16 – Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, [16] from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Ephes. 5:18-21 – And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, [19] addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, [20] giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, [21] submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Philip. 2:1-4 – So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, [2] complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. [3] Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. [4] Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

1 Thes. 5:11-15 – Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. [12] We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, [13] and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. [14] And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. [15] See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.

Hebrews 10:24-25 – And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, [25] not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

There are more of course. But this isn’t a bad place to start. And it’s good place right now for me to stop.